I wonder if Intel's new drivers fix the security holes that Jon Ellch and David Maynor documented. I upgraded my laptop last night to plug the security holes Intel closed in them.

Next, 'Starbucks Hax0rs'

There is a great response to this latest scare at
http://daringfireball.net/2006/08/krebs_followup .

It sums up everything I feel about this whole issue.

Haha, OMG, This is so funny. I've always heard how much more secure Apple's are than anything else.. The fact is that if Apples could suddenly occupy 90% of the worlds desktops, they would have the living crap hacked out of them in no time. I don't understand why Mac lovers are so smug.. They simply are not that popular. That's why no one wanted to hack them in the past. I'm just dying here with laughter. LOL!!!

It was a third party USB wireless device using third party drivers. He did not use MacBook's built in wireless device.

All this proves is that running third party drivers in kernel space is dangerous because the drivers could have bugs that will allow the type of situation that was demonstrated.

It seems that Mac OS X, Linux and Windows are all using the same code in their drivers for this particular wireless card, hence they're all hackable - should you find someone that's equipped their laptop with the chipset and drivers involved. Macs have built-in wireless anyway, although they're probably also using vendor supplied code, so again the vendor supplied code will be the weak point. There's one place to lay the blame, the vendor.

As another poster said, this shows how peer-reviewed open source code is potentially the most secure mechanism in the long run. It's a big hit against proprietary closed source code, and the people that claim that security by obscurity is a good idea.

Anyone else besides me tired of the "hackers hack "x", proving "x" has security flaws" stories that only spread FUD?

Ummm, they're hackers...they're supposed to be able to hack stuff. That's what they do, see, because they're hackers.

Call me when a 10 year old kid can make my computer explode with a series of random mouse clicks. Then I'll start to worry.

Maynor: "if you watch those 'Get a Mac' commercials enough, it eventually makes you want to stab one of those users in the eye with a lit cigarette or something."

It's so true! Hey, where'd that one guy who wrote the craptastic review of the Dell Inspiron E1705 versus the 15.4" MacBook go? And now that there's a 17" MacBook, why haven't we seen a TechReport-esque, no holds barred match between that and the E1705? :D

wonder if it's just the Intel-based Macs or if PPC Macs are vulnerable? And if PPC is vulnerable, will Intel-based Macs get a fix while PPC rots on the vine even more? *sigh*

Maynor: "if you watch those 'Get a Mac' commercials enough, it eventually makes you want to stab one of those users in the eye with a lit cigarette or something."

i spewed... thanks... now i have pepsi all over my keyboard...

Holy 129MB package they link too. Good thing one got 20Mbit O.O!